How Many Students Can Fit On The Playground?

Objective

Using Google Earth and authentic measurements, students will reach a reasonable estimate of how many students could fit on their playground.

Students will need:

• a measuring tape or another tool for measuring
• access to Google Earth or a similar mapping tool that can measure lengths

Steps

1. Make guesses about how many people could fit on a four-square court.
2. Calculate the area of a four-square court as well as how much space a student takes up.
3. Calculate how many people really could fit on a four-square court and then test it with real kids.
4. Calculate how many students could fit onto the entire playground using Google Earth.
5. Extend the idea to calculate how many people could fit into other large spaces.

Resources

• The Worksheet (PDF)
• The Worksheet (Google Slides)